2020-2021 Report from Outgoing Chapter President Andrea Panzeca

In May 2019, when I became chapter president, none of us could have imagined the turn our lives would take within the year. Until then we toured Antenna’s Paper Machine printshop, celebrated the 2019 Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction, celebrated book launches of Jami Attenberg and Margaret Wilkerson-Sexton, hosted a panel on WNBA’s Great Group Reads, had a king cake party, toured Amistad Research Center, and watched and discussed Little Women with Anne Boyd Rioux. A similar screening/discussion of Emma with Miki Pfeffer was scheduled for Saturday, March 14, 2020. It was our first, but not our last, COVID-impacted event.

We pivoted to virtual programming, including a series of open mic nights, an interview with Susan Larson and local author Elizabeth Miki Brina, and a Mardi Gras party with prizes revealed via spinning-wheel-of-names! Not everyone could join us in the virtual realm, and we look forward to safely increasing in-person events as community case counts and public guidance allows. I hope we will continue to offer virtual or hybrid options as well when possible.

Though my time as president did not, could not, turn out as I initially imagined, I am nonetheless grateful for it. I have made and sustained so many friendships through this organization. While I will remain a member and immediate past president, I also look forward to spending more time with my writing, art, and teaching. I encourage those who may be considering becoming more involved in the chapter to do so! I am thankful to so many of you, most especially Sara Woodard, Karen Kersting, and Susan Larson.

Thank you all,

Andrea Panzeca

WNBA-NOLA Welcomes New President!

Anne Babson has been selected President of WNBA-NOLA!

Anne is an author and a scholar who has long celebrated the works of women writers. In New York City, prior to her move South, Anne was the Vice President of Literature for a women’s art collective, Women’s Studio Center, where she won a prize for her foundation of an immigrant women’s writers’ forum and of a feminist literary journal, Vernacular.

Her first poetry collection, The White Trash Pantheon (Vox Press, 2015), won a prize. She is also the author the poetry collections Polite Occasions (Unsolicited Press, 2018) Messiah (Saint Julian Press, 2019), and on press this winter, a collection about the pandemic and the rise of American authoritarianism, The Bunker Book (Unsolicited Press, projected 2022). Her play about gun culture in the South, Reenactment, was published in 2019. The opera for which she wrote the libretto for composer Su Lian-Tan, Lotus Lives, has been performed in New York City, Boston, Montreal, and is set to be released to video next year. Her individual poems have been published in literary journals on five continents and have been anthologized on two continents, most recently in Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse.

Anne’s scholarly work focuses on authors writing in French and English. She studied as an undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence College, and she did her graduate studies at The City University of New York and at the University of Mississippi. She teaches writing and literature at Southeastern Louisiana University and French language and literature at L’Union Francaise.

Prytania Street Sip and Share

WNBA-New Orleans members and their friends will gather on the Prytania Street porch of L’Union Francaise to reconnect. We’ll sip and share our experiences during the pandemic and Hurricane Ida, plus what we’ve been reading, writing, and other bright spots. Light snacks; wine and sparkling water provided.

Date: Friday, October 29, 2021

Location: The front porch of L’Union Francaise, 4522 Prytania Street
Time: 6:30–8 pm CT
Free and open to WNBA–New Orleans chapter members and their friends
RSVP deadline: Sunday, October 24
COVID protocols: Vaccine proof required; mask indoors (for restrooms)
Click here to RSVP. We hope to see you there!

Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival  Embraces Virtual Format for 2021

The Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Festival returns for its 35th annual celebration of contemporary literature, culture, theater, and the works of Tennessee Williams. The 2021 Festival will offer two consecutive weekends of virtual programming in March: a Writer’s Retreat followed by a weekend of traditional events presented online.
The Writer’s Retreat March 19-21 will include online writing workshops, author events, and a writing marathon. Delivering a keynote inspirational message to writers is Robert Jones, Jr., whose debut novel The Prophets is garnering praise and making top lists across the country. Acclaimed and award-winning authors also participating include C. Morgan Babst, Michael Bourne, Elizabeth Miki Brina, Ethan Brown, Pamela Colloff, Lily King, Leigh Camacho Rourks, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Sunni Patterson, Sharyn Rosenblum, and Katy Simpson Smith. Also included is an agent pitch bootcamp and a session by Kindle Direct Publishing with Goodreads.
The following weekend, March 24-28, includes our annual Festival traditions presented online. We are thrilled to welcome back favorite friends and new faces including Megan Abbott, Augustin J Correro, Randy Fertel, Alison Gaylin, Matthew Griffin, Eliza Griswold, Ladee Hubbard, Robert Jones, Jr., Peggy Scott Laborde, Susan Larson,Laura Lippman, Lauren Markham, John Cameron Mitchell, John Pope, Alice Quinn, Mo Rocca, Brian Sands, Kalamu Ya Salaam, Heather Ann Thompson, M.O. Walsh, Bryan Washington,and many more.
Special Events
The Festival will open Wednesday, March 24 with an online evening performance of A Vieux Carré Cabaret with Vinsantos, LadyBeast, and Franky. Other virtual events include the Tennessee Williams Tribute Reading focused on New Orleans as Muse with Alan Cumming, Brenda Currin, Rodney Hicks, Thomas Keith, Ann Magnuson, Amy Ryan, Mink Stole, Blair Underwood, and more. Books & Beignets focusing on The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams; an interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley; Bryan Batt in conversation with Tennessee Williams’ scholar Dr. Kenneth Holditch; and a Williams Scholars Session.
Drummer & Smoke online music events sponsored by New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation will include Bon Bon Vivant, Arsène DeLay, and a jazz cocktail hour with Joel Dinerstein.From the Archives will feature Festival highlights from over 35 years, including an archived interview with Tennessee Williams by Eric Paulsen, an interview with Anne Rice, and a panel with John Waters. UNO Press will present poetry readings filmed on location from the book I Am New Orleans and a new memoir by Kalamu ya Salaam. Culinary events will include a live Jazz Brunch show with Poppy Tooker and Ti Martin and classic New Orleans cocktails with Tim McNally; plus a full-length film by Lisa Vreeland, Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation.
Virtual Theater offerings include an original production, The Felt Menagerie—A Williams-Inspired Puppet Comedy from The Tennessee Williams Theatre Co. of New Orleans; Teatro Sin Fronteras / Theater without Borders, showcasing the voices of Latin creatives in New Orleans curated by Jose Torres-Tama; Tennessee Williams one-act plays from The NOLA Project and from Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre. Other theater-related events include New Orleans, My Muse with Kathy Randels and Stephanie McKee moderated by Monique Verdin; a panel on the New Orleans Black theatre community with Tommye Myrick, Kalamu ya Salaam, Lauren Turner, Kaia Karen Livers, and Nick Slie.
The Festival is pleased to share partner content from The Historical New Orleans Collection, Garden District Book Shop, and the Diana Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction (watch the presentation here: https://youtu.be/6zCBUdhFSg0
Saints + Sinners Literary Festival, an annual LGBTQ conference celebrating its 18th year, will occur online March 11-14, 2021. The virtual SASFest will include panels, workshops, readings, and special events. Visit sasfest.org for more details.
Tickets for the Virtual TWFestival will go on sale February 19, 2021.   www.tennesseewilliams.net

A Virtual Mardi Gras Party!

WNBA-NOLA members had a ball at our virtual Mardi Gras Party Saturday, February 6!

Before joining the Zoom group, we each chose our favorite king cake or pie and a beverage. Many of us were wearing the traditional purple, green and gold colors and costumes of Carnival.

?

?

?

We shared our Mardi Gras memories and favorite books of 2020. Using an online spinning wheel we gave away some great prizes to participants:

  • a one-year paid subscription to Roxane Gay’s newsletter The Audacity,

  • a one-year paid subscription to Jami Attenberg’s newsletter Craft Talk,

  • a signed Jami Attenberg book, and

  • a gift certificate to Windowsill Pies!

Mardi Gras Party: Sat., Feb. 6 at 7 pm

?

Please join us Saturday, February 6, 7–8 pm, for a virtual Mardi Gras party!

Grab your favorite king cake or pie and a beverage and join us for a social gathering! Costumes are encouraged, but not required.

We’ll share our favorite books of 2020, our reading and writing resolutions for 2021, and give away some great prizes:

  • a one-year paid subscription to Roxane Gay’s newsletter The Audacity,

  • a one-year paid subscription to Jami Attenberg’s newsletter Craft Talk,

  • a signed Jami Attenberg book, and

  • a gift certificate to Windowsill Pies!

Current members who attend are automatically entered to win. Nonmembers may attend without entering to win, or may enter for a donation of $20. Renew or donate here. (Questions about your membership? Contact Membership Chair Sara Woodard at wnbaofnola@gmail.com.)

Open to all to attend! RSVP here.